Don’t Buy It All

When it comes to clothes for the little person in your life it can be really hard not to get too carried away. There are so many great brands out there making exciting and sustainable fashion for little ones that you can buy more than you really need because its so cute. Anyone who follows me on Instagram will know that I’ve been guilty of this and Aoifes wardrobe is currently quite full. She has worn everything we have but i’m conscious of the fact that she could be getting more wear out of some things if we had less stuff. I’ve been reasonably lucky in that most clothes have lasted a good amount of time as she hasn’t grown to fast but this is no excuse for buying her so many things.

When I first started this blog my main focus was to show that its possible to bring up a child without spending to much money or having to many things for them and on the clothes front I feel I have failed miserably! I need to make a real effort to stop buying all the lovely clothes and only focus on the things i know Aoife will get a lot of use out of. I know she really only needs 3 jumpers and not the 12 or more that she has. The fact that I have no idea exactly how many she actually has without going to count them tells me that she really does have far to many.

Its very easy to get excited when your favourite brand releases their new collection and I’ve found myself lusting after something that is completely impractical or we already have lots of the same thing. The brands that I’m buying from may have sustainable credentials and use organic cotton but if I’m purchasing to much for her than this is definitely not helping the environment or my wallet.

I’m hoping that by writing this down the next time I go to buy something I don’t need just because its cute i’ll think back to this and reconsider my purchase. I’m thinking that I should really have a list of everything that Aoife needs to have so that things that are outgrown can be properly replaced and I can stop my haphazard approach to shopping. That way we shouldn’t end up with far to many tops and no bottoms to go with them.

A while ago I remember reading something about kids now having to many things and them not caring about anything because everything feels disposable. I really don’t want Aoife to grow up with that attitude I’d like her to treasure the things that she has and learn to take care of them and I know its up to me and her dad to teach her that. The author of that piece spoke about his one jumper, (probably what inspired my jumper chat here) how he made sure he never lost it and really learned to take care of it because that was “his jumper” and if anything happened to it his parents would not find it easy to replace it. I’m not going to make Aoife only have one piece of clothing but we are definitely going to cut back on what we have as she grows out of everything I do however know that I’m going to need some strong willpower.